What to Expect from This Year's NPC

Representatives of China's top legislature held a press conference on Thursday morning to introduce the agenda for the 3rd full session of the 11th National People's Congress, which opened this morning (Mar 5) at 9am in Beijing.

The congress began this morning with Premier Wen Jiabao's reading of the government's work report.

During the session, special commissions from the National People's Congress (NPC) and heads of relevant departments of the State Council will be invited to answer questions from journalists on topical issues such as China's current macroeconomic policy settings, foreign policy, moves to improve the lot of ordinary people and various environmental concerns including how China plans to address the challenge of climate change, according to Li Zhaoxing, spokesman of the 11th NPC.

Accoridng to Li, the main items on the congress' agenda are the consideration and discussion of work reports from the central government, the standing committee of the NPC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Delegates will also investigate and pass planning reports and budgets and consider amendenments to the the country's electoral law.

According to a report in the New York Times, delegates may also be asked to consider changes to the country's state secrecy law.

When asked by a French journalist from Le Point about how the country would deal with what she identified as the three "T"s: trade, Taiwan and Tibet, the former foreign affairs minister played down the severity of the issues and, although not mentioning any country by name, criticized the sales of weapons to Taiwan and high-level meetings with the exiled Tibetan religious leader Dalai Lama.

At the conference, Li also responded to questions about China's defense budget. He revealed that the State Council planned to increase its defense budget by 7.5 percent to 532.115 billion yuan (about 78 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010.

The figure would account for 6.3 percent of the country's total fiscal expenditure in 2010, though he added that the budget still needed to be passed by the NPC.

Along with the concurrent meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which opened on March 3rd, the NPC meeting is one of the most important events on the Chinese political calendar, with representatives charged with reviewing the administration's annual work report and passing legislation.



Links and Sources
NPC:  Press Conference (Chinese)
NPC: Official Site (English)
NPC: Election law amendment (English)
New York Times: People's Congress Gets to Work in China